The chapter starts out in the hearing. Everyone is questioned, even the socs, and Ponyboy starts to get anxious. When it is his turn to speak, the judge asks questions about his personal life rather than the previous events. Ponyboy starts becoming depressed and detached. Things seem to be taking a turn for the worse. His grades are dropping and he is starting to fight with Darry again. Mr Syme, Ponyboy's English teacher says that he is failing. He can pass his class if he writes a paper on an auto biographical theme. The next day, Two Bit and Ponyboy go to the grocery store and a group of socs threaten them. Ponyboy, no longer afraid, busts his coke bottle and threatens the socs. His sudden hostility scares Two Bit and Steve. They tell him not to grow up hard like Dally. In the night, Darry and Ponyboy start to fight about his grades and him slacking in school. Sodapop, sick of their fighting, runs out of the house. They later find out that Sandy returned Sodapop's letter. They chase after Sodapop and apologize. When they arrive home, Ponyboy finds a note from Johnny in his Gone with the Wind copy. He then reazlizes what he wants his paper to be about. His main goal was to tell the story of other hoodlums everywhere. Ponyboy starts his story like this “When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.” and tells the story of the Outsiders.
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